Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit SUMMER 2013 | Page 9

snippet
it’s a

A large Lindstrom Toy & Tool
Co tinplate clockwork racing
boat from the 1930s, with its
original paintwork and boat driver.
Priced at $275 from Antique
Market Grote St, Adelaide, South
Australia. Tel: [phone].

Snatches of information too small for a
feature and too interesting to ignore...

Rare Victorian glass miniature
chest of drawers c.1880 in
perfect condition. The body of the
piece is made up of coloured
glass panels with decoration of
spun glass. Measures: 29.5cm x
14cm x 32.5cm tall, and priced at
$2985 from Lauder & Howard
Antiques in Fremantle, Western
Australia. Phone: [phone].

look that marked it as
utilitarian in the 19th century
is now one of the reasons why
spongeware is so prized in
the 21st century. The style
originated in Scotland but
production soon spread to
Staffordshire in England, as
well as pockets of manufacture
in Ireland, Wales and France.
Spongeware was decorated in
several ways, depending on the
skill of the decorator. Hand
painted brushwork was done
by the more talented workers,

This pair of spongeware bowls
is by Adams of Greenfield,
Staffordshire and they are
available from Allpress Antiques in
Melbourne, Victoria. Call 03 9824
8551 for more details.

while those less
skilled used a
sponge to dab
the colours
and patterns.
Stick spatter
or sponge
printing was
done using a piece of cut
sponge on a stick. The colours
most commonly used were red,
blue, shades of green and black;
purple and brown were
popular in Scotland, and
yellow and pink were also
used, although less frequently.
Quantity was the priority –
spongeware was huge success
as an export ware – and hardly
any of the pieces were marked.
Riding the ocean waves
As mechanised transport
gradually became more
accessible after the turn of the
20th century, toy companies
began making miniature
versions. In the United States,
the firm of Lindstrom
specialised in mechanical toys
and games of pressed steel and
tin, manufacturing from 1913
to the early 1940s when their
output ceased due to the war
(they resumed production after
WWII). The company was

probably bestknown for its
amusement park-type
auto called the Doodlebug,
but it also made a popular toy
sewing machine from 1936
until after WWII.
All the better to see
you with
The lorgnette – a spectacle
front on the end of a handle –
was invented c.1770 by George
Adams I, who described it as
‘a kind of substitute for
spectacles…both eyes are
used at once, without any
effort.’ In the early
example ́ѡ